"Blogs Die Hard"

Chris told me that about three weeks ago. It's true. I've been neglectful, and as a result, my blog is dying. Hard. So let me preface this post with two things: 1) Sorry. 2) I'm going to try to update this thing twice a week. Minimum. Fingers crossed. Alright. Let us begin.

EDIT: 3) Less spelling errors.

So a few things have been going on. One of the bakers from whom Verve gets pastries, Companion Bakers, also does work at the local farmer's markets. They've been expanding from selling just baked goods to also having a coffee service. I was asked to help out with their pour-over coffee bar, and I agreed to. This was the set up:

It's not often that I get to prepare and serve coffee in a capacity that is not espresso or french press. One of my favorite things about the pour over bar is how much longer it takes to prepare a cup of coffee than it takes to prepare espresso. It definitely brings something different to the table, and allows for much more time to interact with the consumer. I enjoyed being able to talk to customers at length about the coffee I was serving (Ethiopia Sidamo Moredocofe), being able to engage them and getting them to ask questions. I believe one of the most important aspect of a barista's job is to be an educator. There is a ton of information about coffee that the average consumer doesn't know, and I'd like to think that being the last person the coffee passes through before reaching the customer, that we should be able, and willing, to teach as much as possible. Don't get me wrong, working the espresso bar grants plenty of opportunities to engage customers in that manner...but it also allows the customer to grab their cappuccino and walk. I like the idea of a brew bar, where the purpose of it isn't to serve coffee, and educate as well, but to educate, and serve coffee as well. I'd really like to start something like that at Verve. We do public cuppings regularly, but I'd like to expand on that idea more. We used to have Syphon Saturday, but it stopped before I started working there. I'd like to have a weekly brew bar where syphons, Chemexes, french presses, and Eva Solos are used, and the customer chooses how to be served, and expect to be educated in the process. Hopefully I can make it work, what with school taking up a bit of my time, but I fully believe that it can happen. I'll get started on the plans.

More has been going on lately as well, but nothing too exciting. I made a promise to not post ridiculously long posts again, so I'll end it here. Hopefully I'll talk to you in the next couple of days.

-Ian.